HR 3632: Power Plant Reliability Act of 2025

HR 3632 in plain English: This bill changes how the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) handles situations where a power plant wants to shut down but may be needed to keep the electrical grid reliable. It allows FERC to order a power plant to stay open for up to five years if its closure would make the bulk power system unreliable, and it exempts such plants from environmental laws while operating under that order.

Stated purpose

This bill changes how the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) handles situations where a power plant's closure could make the electric grid unreliable, allowing FERC to order plants to stay open for up to five years and requiring plant owners to give at least five years' advance notice before closing a plant.

Key points

• Allows FERC to order a power plant to remain open for up to five years if its retirement threatens grid reliability.
• Expands who can file reliability complaints with FERC to include transmission organizations, not just state commissions.
• Requires power plant owners to notify FERC and state commissions at least five years before any planned retirement.
• FERC must set rates to compensate power plants for the additional costs of staying open under such an order.
• Actions taken to comply with a FERC stay-open order are exempted from federal, state, and local environmental laws.

Arguments supporters make

• Keeping power plants open longer prevents blackouts and grid failures, especially as older plants retire faster than new ones can replace them.
• Requiring five years' advance notice before a plant closes gives grid operators and communities time to plan and avoid sudden reliability gaps.
• Compensating plant owners for staying open ensures the grid stays reliable without forcing companies to absorb losses, making compliance more practical.

Arguments opponents make

• Exempting power plants from environmental laws while they operate under these orders could allow continued pollution that harms nearby communities with no legal recourse.
• Forcing plants to stay open may delay investment in newer, cleaner energy sources by reducing urgency to build replacement capacity.
• Orders can be extended repeatedly in five-year increments, meaning plants originally planned for closure could remain operating—and exempt from environmental rules—for many years.

Tradeoffs

Keeping aging power plants running longer may improve short-term grid reliability but does so by shielding those plants from environmental laws, creating a tension between energy security and environmental protection; the cost of keeping plants open is also shifted to ratepayers rather than borne by plant owners or the government.

Current status in Congress: Passed House.

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